\n<\/p>\n
It made sense at the time. In the grey matter and guts alike, the rationale felt right.<\/b><\/p>\n
With 62 minutes on the clock, and an eight-point advantage on the scoreboard, you tighten the grip, not chance your arm.<\/p>\n
Steve Borthwick chose that point to withdraw fly-half Marcus Smith, architect of his team\u2019s only try.<\/p>\n
On came George Ford, a 97-cap arch game manager, the hero of England’s World Cup win over Argentina,<\/b> to snuff the life out of New Zealand and nurse the scoreline through to victory. <\/p>\n
But, that\u2019s the thing: it always feels right at the time.<\/p>\n
By the time referee Angus Gardner blew the final whistle, that reasoning, for many, had been exploded.<\/p>\n
England had ceded momentum, territory and finally the lead, with New Zealand scoring 10 unanswered points in the final quarter and Ford missing two kicks \u2013 one penalty, one drop-goal \u2013 that would have snatched back victory.<\/p>\n
Ford hasn\u2019t played for more than a month because of a quad injury. He wasn\u2019t ready. Smith was having a fine game. He should have been pulling the strings, not cooling his heels on the bench, when the final stages played out.<\/p>\n
Now, that is the theory that fits. The events seem to bear it out. The narrative of where England lost the game is an easy tale to spin.<\/p>\n
But Borthwick and his team will know there were more moving parts to England\u2019s latest defeat than just an exchange of 10s.<\/p>\n
Recency bias \u2013 the phenomenon that loads greatest importance on the freshest events \u2013 doesn\u2019t last long in the video review.<\/p>\n
When the tape rolls at Pennyhill Park this week, England\u2019s new defence coach Joe El-Abd will highlight the holes too easily opened by two blind-side darts that led to All Black tries.<\/p>\n
The six replacement forwards \u2013 an Anglo-Saxon answer to South Africa\u2019s bomb squad \u2013 failed to detonate, falling foul of Gardner at scrums and breakdown.<\/p>\n
An overall lack of an attacking threat, beyond Smith\u2019s smart intercept, meant that England could never get out of the range of a late All Black surge.<\/p>\n
Smith himself had two fluffed drop-goal attempts, both uglier shanks than Ford\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
Ford, who was also shrugged off by Mark Tele\u2019a on the way to a match-winning try, undoubtedly had a day to forget. <\/p>\n
But England\u2019s latest heartbreak \u2013 after a string of narrow defeats \u2013 has more sources than one man.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n